Adele plays the first of eight sold-out shows at Staples Center on Aug. 5. (Photo by Kevin Winter, Getty Images)

James Taylor, Joe Walsh, Vince Gill, Kacey Musgraves and Chris Stapleton perform at the All for the Hall benefit show at the Novo in Los Angeles on Sept. 27. (Photo by Matt Masin, Orange County Register, SCNG)

Beyoncé performs at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on, May 12: (Photo by Daniela Vesco, Invision for Parkwood Entertainment and Associated Press)

Once again, the entertainment staff racked their brains in an attempt to narrow down the best live shows out of the hundreds they attended and reviewed throughout Southern California in 2016.

From intimate L.A. and O.C. club gigs and full-blown stadium spectacles to festivals in the desert and having to say farewell to some legendary Southern California venues, we’ve covered it all.

Click the photo above for a slideshow of our top 25 concerts in 2016.

Kelli Skye Fadroski’s Top 10 picks

Gwen Stefani at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, Oct. 30: The Anaheim-native was the final performer to grace the stage at the beloved O.C. amphitheatre, which was demolished in early November, as she brought her This Is What The Truth Feels Like Tour to Irvine on Oct. 29-30. Though she wasn’t joined by the rest of the members of her band No Doubt, she did incorporate several of those familiar tracks into her setlist, as well as cuts from her three solo albums. Fellow O.C. natives Young the Giant and Save Ferris opened the shows.

Adele at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Aug. 5: Following the monstrous success of her third and now Grammy-nominated album, “25,” the British singer-songwriter headlined eight sold-out nights at Staples Center in Los Angeles. She was personable, passionate and delighted audiences as she sailed through some of her biggest hits.

James Taylor, Joe Walsh, Vince Gill, Kacey Musgraves and Chris Stapleton at the Novo in Los Angeles, Sept. 27: The All for the Hall star-studded benefit raised money to support educational classes at the Country Music Hall of Fame and was a mellow, storytellers-style setting where the singer-songwriters took turns playing some of their biggest songs acoustically. It was an intimate event that gave the audience insight into the songwriting processes of legends and up-and-coming stars.

Beyoncé at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, May 12: Queen B brought songs off of her now Grammy-nominated album “Lemonade” to life, lighting up the sold-out football stadium with energetic performances of “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” “Sorry,” “Daddy Lessons” and “Freedom.” The stadium-worthy Foundation World Tour was over-the-top fantastic with lots of wardrobe changes, thousands of lights, pyrotechnics and innovative choreography.

Green Day at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, Oct. 17: The Bay Area punk act hit up small venues across the country in support of its latest album, “Revolution Radio.” The energy at the sold-out Palladium stop was palpable as the band tenaciously ushered in a hit-filled set, kicking things off with “Know Your Enemy” and peppering in new cuts like “Bang, Bang” and “Ordinary World.”

Dolly Parton at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Oct. 1: The country music singer, songwriter, actress and pop culture icon took over the Hollywood Bowl for two nights in October and was as sweet as pie and as sparkly as a disco ball. She told personal stories and poked fun at her insane collection of rhinestones, as well as her numerous plastic surgeries. Fans sang and clapped along to “Jolene” and some were in tears as she sang “I Will Always Love You” in her encore.

Black Sabbath at the Forum in Inglewood, Feb. 11: The mighty metal gods flexed their muscle at the Forum during one of the stops on their official farewell, The End Tour. For its final hurrah, Sabbath showcased its stellar musicianship and stuck to hits and fan-favorites like “War Pigs,” “Paranoid,” and “Children of the Grave.”

The Who at Honda Center in Anaheim, May 22: Before the legendary rock group hit up the sold-out Oldchella for two weekends in Indio, it stopped by Honda Center to celebrate its The Who Hits 50! tour. Generations of fans came together and rocked out as Roger Daltrey belted the classics and Pete Townshend shredded on his guitar.

Charles Kelley at House of Blues Anaheim, April 23: The Lady Antebellum singer-songwriter went solo in 2016 and cut loose during a tour stop in Anaheim where he played a mix of Lady A hits and cuts off of his solo debut, “The Driver.” Since the show happened just two days after the shocking death of Prince, Kelley paid homage to the music icon by doing a stunning version of “Purple Rain.” He also raised a cup of beer and played snippets of “Let’s Dance” and “Take it Easy” in honor of David Bowie and Glenn Frey, two other legends lost in 2016.

Flogging Molly at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, March 17: The L.A.-based Irish punk band brought its annual St. Patrick’s Day show, The Devil’s Dance Floor, to Irvine in 2016 and fans turned out ready to party and mosh all night long. Loyal devotees and first-time revelers double-fisted beer and roared and danced along to some of the band’s biggest hits such as “Drunken Lullabies,” “Salty Dog,” “What’s Left of the Flag.”

Peter Larsen’s Top 10 picks

Roger Waters at Desert Trip in Indio, Oct. 9: The Pink Floyd singer-bassist closed out Sunday night at both weekends of the legends-of-rock-filled Desert Trip festival with the year’s most spectacular blend of music and visuals. Playing one Floyd hit after another, the creativity of his video images, set design and awe-inspiring surround sound breathed vital new life into old songs such as “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and “Another Brick In The Wall, Part. 2.”

Regina Spektor at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, Sept. 29: Spektor was utterly charming in this small theater show, part of a short tour to launch her new album, “Remember Us To Life.” She’d not toured for a few years and seemed a little nervous at times, bobbling a lyric once or twice, but the adoring crowd picked her up every time and the songs old and new were sublime.

Radiohead at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Aug. 4: Eight years after its last proper show in Southern California the influential British band roared back with a movingly powerful night at the Shrine. “A Moon Shaped Pool,” the band’s just-out album, featured softer textures than some of the older numbers, with tunes such as “No Surprises” and “Let Down” among the most beautiful of the night.

Barbra Streisand at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Aug. 2: Barbra doesn’t tour all that often and when she does it’s a special treat. At 74, she’s a legend by any measure and with a catalog of hits that in concert ran from the opener “The Way We Were” to the penultimate number “People,” she was never less than wonderful, even if she did give part of her time on stage to a magician. No, really, she did.

Twenty One Pilots at the Forum in Inglewood, July 23: The eclectic electro-rock duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun broke out of cult status in 2015 and only got bigger in 2016, making their sold-out show at the Forum one of the hot tickets of the summer (they return to the area to play Honda Center Feb. 15-16). Their energy and enthusiasm married to catchy melody and offbeat stage and costume design made this show something special.

Mudcrutch at the Observatory in Santa Ana, June 28: You don’t get to see a legend like Tom Petty in a small club that often and so when he came around with Mudcrutch, his band before the Heartbreakers, with whom he released a new album this year, it’s a special deal. Add to that the fact that Mudcrutch included Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell and this was the small-venue gem of the year.

The Cure at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, May 22: For a bunch of mopey looking fellows, the Cure sure made a lot of people happy at this show, the first of three sold-out nights at the Bowl for Robert Smith and Company. Maybe it’s having grown up with this post-punk act over the last four decades, or maybe it’s the catharsis one feels in hearing, and singing along, to songs such as “In Between Days,” “Just Like Heaven,” and “Why Can’t I Be You?” to name just three of 32 songs packed into nearly three hours on stage.

Iggy Pop at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, April 28: No one more than maybe Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones seems less likely to have survived to still be making music than Iggy Pop. And I’d argue that Iggy is even fresher than Keith given the strength of “Post Pop Depression,” the superb album he made with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, who played with Pop on the tour that was so much fun at the Greek this spring.

Sia at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, April 17: LCD Soundsystem, Guns N’ Roses and Calvin Harris headlined Coachella this year but it was Sia, the quirky singer-songwriter and visual provocateur, who stole the weekend. Her set hid her at the back of the stage beneath her usual wig-and-bow, while dancer Maddie Ziegler, her performance alter ego, leaped about the stage with other dancers that through video sleight of hand most of the crowd thought were actually stars such as Paul Dano and Kristen Wiig. Dano, Wiig and more were pre-recorded but even discovering that didn’t change the magic of the show.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, March 15: The Boss always loved the Sports Arena, long ago nicknaming it “The Dump That Jumps,” so who else to play the final shows there before it got demolished? And with Springsteen, you get so much show – a front-to-back complete run-through “The River” album, and nearly as many of his classic hits such as “Born To Run” and “10th Avenue Freeze-Out.”

Vanessa Franko’s Top 5 picks

Paul McCartney at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown, Oct. 13: McCartney packs stadiums around the world on a regular basis, so catching him with a couple hundred people at a roadhouse in the high desert between massive Desert Trip sets in Indio was nothing short of incredible. Just as high energy as a big show, minus the big multimedia production, the set included some of the Beatles’ best (“Hey Jude,” “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” “I Saw Her Standing There”), Wings classics (“Junior’s Farm,” “Band on the Run”) and McCartney’s latter-day material (“Save Us,” “Queenie Eye”).

Metallica at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, Dec. 15: The band that has been playing stadiums for decades dropped into the 1,200 capacity club for one of the first shows supporting new album “Hardwired … to Self Destruct.” With the members now in their 50s, Metallica played with more fire than ever, without pyrotechnics. The set was a mix of classics featuring “Master of Puppets,” “One” and “Enter Sandman;” deep cuts such as early track “Metal Militia” and the band’s cover of Budgie’s “Breadfan;” and three songs from the new record, including the adrenaline-fueled “Hardwired.”

Guns N’ Roses at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Weekend One at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, April 16: Seeing Guns N’ Roses members Axl Rose, Duff McKagan and Slash reunite was like catching a unicorn for hard rock fans. The band’s explosive set at Coachella, even with Rose confined to a motorized rock throne because of a broken foot, was packed with the band’s best off “Appetite for Destruction,” with the night ending in a storm of confetti and “Paradise City.” Oh yeah, and AC/DC’s Angus Young showed up, schoolboy outfit and all, to join the band play on “Riff Raff“ and “Whole Lotta Rosie.”

Neil Young, Desert Trip Weekend Two at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Oct. 15: Desert Trip, with Young, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, The Who and Roger Waters playing two weekends in Indio was the musical event of the year, with most of the performances memorable in a great way. Young was transcendent as he opened his set solo with “After the Gold Rush,” “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man.” But the set got even better when he was joined by Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real – taking the Crazy Horse-era songs, including “Powderfinger” to another level.

Elvis Costello, Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside, April 5: The prolific singer-songwriter played an intimate show, telling the stories behind his greatest songs and sharing memories of his father and late New Orleans songwriter Allen Toussaint, among others. Among the highlights: a fuzz-filled “Pump It Up” and the intricate guitar work on “When I Was Cruel No. 2.” The ever-witty songwriter rocked mostly solo, except for a few numbers when he was joined by openers Larkin Poe, including a stunning encore of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding?”

Peter Larsen has been the Pop Culture Reporter for the Orange County Register since 2004, finally achieving the neat trick of getting paid to report and write about the stuff he's obsessed about pretty much all his life. He regularly covers the Oscars and the Emmys, goes to Comic-Con and Coachella, reviews pop music, and conducts interviews with authors and actors, musicians and directors, a little of this and a whole lot of that. He grew up, in order, in California, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oregon. Graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. with degrees in English and Communications. Earned a master's degree at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Earned his first newspaper paycheck at the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat, fled the Midwest for Los Angeles Daily News and finally ended up at the Orange County Register. He's taught one or two classes a semester in the journalism and mass communications department at Cal State Long Beach since 2006. Somehow managed to get a lovely lady to marry him, and with her have two daughters. And a dog named Buddy. Never forget the dog.

Vanessa Franko is the Digital Director of Entertainment for the Southern California News Group. The lure of palm trees and covering pop culture brought her to The Press-Enterprise in Riverside in 2006. Vanessa has reported on everything from the Palm Springs International Film Festival to the MLB All-Star Game as a reporter, photographer, videographer and on-camera personality. She's won awards for her coverage of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and for crime reporting in her home state of Maryland. Vanessa studied multimedia storytelling as a Knight Digital Media Center fellow in Dec. 2011 and has taught college courses in digital journalism. She's seen shows at every major concert venue in Southern California, but most special was when Paul McCartney played the high-desert roadhouse Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown for a couple hundred fans in Oct. 2016. Her album collection numbers in the thousands (including a couple hundred on vinyl) and when she isn't hunting for records, she and her husband like to check out the best in Southern California craft beer and watch sports. She also had a cameo in the 1992 Atlanta Braves highlight film "Lightning Strikes Twice!"

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